‘Another brick in the wall?’ An Investigation into resettlement education for young people with special educational needs and disabilities

Abstract

This thesis focused on the education of young people in the youth justice population, who were going through resettlement. Resettlement is the period after a young person is released from prison. It is a complex time of transition, containing both risks and opportunities. The resettlement population comprises young people with a significant range of needs, including a high prevalence of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). This prevalence is recognised through provisions in the SEND Code of Practice (DfE and DoH, 2014), which mandates appropriate education, health and care support for young people during resettlement in England. However, there is limited research about the educational experiences of the resettlement population, including the perspectives of professionals who support resettlement, such as education providers and Youth Offending Teams (YOTs). Therefore, this research investigated the role of these agencies in resettlement and explored the lived experiences of two young people transitioning through resettlement, to address the following research questions: 1. What are the experiences of young people with identified SEND engaging with resettlement education provision? 2. How do YOTs and education providers work to facilitate resettlement education provision, and what factors impact on this work? This research utilised a qualitative case study methodology involving three local authorities. In-depth semi-structured interviews with professionals (n = 30) across three local authorities, and unstructured interviews with young people (n = 2) in one local authority were conducted and analysed using thematic analysis. The analysis generated a range of themes that shed light on the nature of education provision and support during resettlement, including the roles of inclusive pedagogy and stigma against the resettlement population, who are a marginalised group. Collectively, these themes brought to light sources of good resettlement practice and barriers to progress during resettlement. The thesis concludes by drawing together the findings into a discussion of the complex myriad factors that shape the experiences and provision of education during resettlement.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Sarah Parsons: orcid.org/0000-0002-2542-4745

ORCID for Michaela Brockmann: orcid.org/0000-0003-4978-1883

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